5 Minute International Update 02-11-2013

The pope resigns. First time in 600 years this has happened! The reason cited is poor health, but child sex abuse cases and a scandal by Benedict XVI’s personal butler to leak private papers plagued his papacy.

Over the weekend, the retaken city of Gao was lost to Islamic militants who invaded the city on Sunday. Suicide bombers and increased fire power marked the offense, but French and Malian forces took back control. Attacks concentrated on police HQ in the center of the city.

The King of Jordan, Abdullah II, inaugurated the country’s new parliament Sunday, hopefully a greater step towards democracy for the struggling country.

Tunisia government in crazy struggle, President’s secular center-left party threatens to leave, then does if the Prime Minister’s Islamist party does not make changes

For the last 3 days there has been a curfew in the disputed Kashmir region, despite it, protests started after the execution of a man connected to an attack on India’s parliament in 2001 (possibly unfair), 2 are dead in the following clashes

At a religious gathering, Kumbh Mela at Sangam, 37 died in a stampede, this is not terribly uncommon for this kind of holy day – but witnesses claim police started it

Russia has put a ban on US meat, they claim is due to a food additive, but I bet political

Foreign Affairs Minister from Kenya rebuked US and EU for weighing on their elections, March 4th

2 daughters of leading opposition figure in Iran, have been detained, Presidential candidate Mir Hossein Musavi, the candidate who ran in 2009 claimed elections were rigged and are under house arrest; Iran held rallies for the 34thanniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution – down with US and death to Israel

US Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford has assumed command of NATO-forces in Afghanistan, expected to see the mission through til its end in 2014, US has begun using the route through Pakistan to remove troops from Afghanistan

Managing Obama’s War Against Israel I have read Caroline Glick for several years and always found her to be an astute observer of Israel and the Middle East. A recent column “Managing Obama’s War Against Israel” solves a problem for me: what is President Obama really trying to do in the Middle East. Glick also […]

The GOP vs. The POG (Party Of Government) As a libertarian, I believe the proper role of government is to deliver the mail, defend the shores and get out of the way. But if the last decade has made anything obvious it’s that even that, apparently, is asking too much. And if government really is the last one […]

Jeb Bush was the latest potential Republican presidential candidate to face the grilling of Hugh Hewitt, on the Hugh Hewitt Show-- okay grilling isn't really Hugh's style but that never stops him from asking tough questions. Jeb supports the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana and showed himself to have a good knowledge of foreign […]

Since Jimmy Carter signed the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, Government Employee Unions have been able to conduct union business while on the taxpayer dime. A new bill introduced just before congress went on vacation would prevent federal workers from engaging in “official time,” a practice established in the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act to […]

Explosive report shows that teachers who are barred from teaching again in Washington State are still drawing generous teacher pensions at state expense. King 5 aired an investigative report that exposed more than $2 million per year of wasted taxpayer’s money. Research showed that in some cases, former teachers who had been barred from teaching […]

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As Democratic Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber’s announced resignation approaches – set for 10am on Wednesday, February 18 – it’s time to examine his successor. Democratic Secretary of State Kate Brown, by all appearances, is further to the Left politically than even Kitzhaber was. She also enjoys some of the same liberal billionaire connections that Kitzhaber […]